(GP)Where was “Dreams of Milk and Honey” recorded?
(GP)Dreams of Milk and Honeyはどこで録音されたのですか?
(LW)In New York. I did that whole album [Leslie West, Mountain] in New York – a real shitty recording studio, Gotham Studios. I remember they got a great deal because it was a commercial studio. So they got a real cheap deal. Terrible sound. And to mix the fucking album was atrocious. We had to put machines on top of machines. Nothing was set up for mixing or anything. It was incredible. Did you like the sound on that album?
(LW)Sunburst Junior, the one Felix gave me. I had a sunburst Junior before the white one, and at the third gig, right before Woodstock, the strap thing fell off and it cracked. So I had to go to Chicago and buy a guitar real quick, the one I mentioned to you I sold Steve Miller. It was a double-cutaway mustard. I didn’t like the sound of it. Every Junior sounds different, even if it’s the same pickup, same-looking guitar. They all sound different, they all have their own sound. I thought this Junior had the sound I was looking for – it didn’t, so I sold it. No – I cracked my mustard. I had a single-cutaway mustard, right, and that cracked and I went out and bought the double-cutaway. And Felix had his Junior on the road, and he gave it to me. Yeah. I never liked the double-cutaways. They had a much treblier sound. They didn’t have as much bottom as a one [single] cutaway.
(LW)West, Bruce & Laing – everything. One pickup took me through a career. Just on that one pickup. It was incredible
(LW)West, Bruce & Laing(ファーストアルバム)、、の全てだ。ワンピックアップでやりとおした。たった一つのピックアップで。凄いだろ。
(GP)What kind of sound were you going for?
(GP)どのような音で行こうとしていました?
(LW)Whatever I could get. And it turned out I got what I got. I was using those Sunn Coliseums, and they were supposed to send me guitar tops. They never worked. And they finally sent me this P.A. top, and the P.A. top sounded great. I turned all the treble up on the amp, just put a little bass off. So it was full treble, and I turned the master all the way up and put the volume on 8, the master on 9, and the gain all the way up. And that’s how I had my guitar sound – they sent me the wrong top, a Coliseum P.A. top, and I tried it. And that’s how I got the sound. I had to use something.
(LW)A phaser, Leslie. I got a way of hooking up a Leslie [rotating speaker] by going into a Hammond organ. You know, there’s a volume control on the organ, in a little box. If you tap-in an empty lead, an open lead, and tap it onto the amp section, you can overdrive the Leslie and make it sound like a Marshall with a Leslie. Because that Leslie is a 15-inch speaker, and Hammond organs are 12 volts – the pickup. A guitar pickup is only one-and-a-half volts, so you only have to turn the volume slightly and you open the guitar up, and my God! Try it one time. Go right into the Hammond organ, you solder the leads on where the volume pedal is, turn the organ on, set the stops, and then all you got to worry about is turning the Leslie on and off. You’re not connected to the organ, you’re just running through it with the power in the preamp.
(LW)On that song “Silver Paper” on Mountain Climbing.
(LW)Mountain ClimbingのSilver Paperでだ。
(GP)Did you use it anywhere else?
(GP)それ以外にどこかで使いましたか?
(LW)Anywhere I could hook it up. Anytime I came into a studio, I said, “Ooh, quick – hook that thing up.” But you needed a B-3, and finally I bought a B-3, but it was a cut-down model, and I couldn’t get in the damn thing to hook it up. So . . .
(LW)“Theme from an Imaginary Western,” from the very first Mountain album, Climbing. That solo – I don’t think I had another one. That was my very favorite, yeah.
(LW)Theme from an Imaginary Westernだ、Mountainとして最初のアルバム「Climbing」に収められている。あのソロだ、、ほかのバージョンは無いと思うが。本当に気に入ってるんだ。
(GP)Did Mountain play songs differently every night?
(GP)Mountainは毎晩異なった演奏をしていましたか?
(LW)Yeah. Not the structure, but all we played within the framework was different. It was a conversation. In a way it was jazz. [We take a break. When we resume, Leslie brings up Mick Taylor’s new album.] I’ve got to hear Mick Taylor’s album now if it’s that good, man. He’s got an incredible amount of sounds. He played the SG and got a great sound out of it. Yes, I really respected Mick. Jack and him almost had a group, but it never came off. It was a jazz thing, though. That’s the thing with Jack – he can play rock and roll, but he can play jazz with anybody too. So I can understand why maybe he might have been starving for that too. Maybe he was that hungry for it. You could see that Eric is hungry for blues – he loves blues out of funky old guitars and amps. The big amps and all of that is a thing of the past. You walk in any music store, and even in your magazine, you see that small amps is on the way. Small components for your stereo, mini speakers. It’s coming. Small TVs, small cars. It’s all coming. Mini modular studios. Watch a guitar come all folded up and everything. A mini guitar. That’s what I thought a Junior was – a mini guitar – because in many cases, it did look like a mini. What else you got? Are we getting somewhere?
(GP)Just a couple of more questions on my list. What did you use on “Dream Sequence” on Flowers of Evil?
(GP)後2つだけ質問が私のリストに残っています。Flowers of EvilのDream Sequenceでは何を使っていましたでしょうか?
(LW)Sunburst Junior through one Sunn, a Coliseum P.A. head, tubes, and one 4×12 Sunn cabinet with the Eminences, and a Marshall 50-watt 8×10 and a Fender Twin.
(GP)How did you create that effect in the beginning?
(GP)最初の部分のエフェクトはどのように作ったのですか?
(LW)That’s my volume control on the Junior. I have that mastered, because I never could afford a pedal. Someone leant me his Morley, and shit, the thing makes you stand up crooked! You gotta go like this [demonstrates stepping on the volume pedal] to try to get it. I tried doing it sitting down, and it’s still hard. What you can do, though, is block it, so the pedal doesn’t have that much leeway. You can put something in there to make the pedal not go all the way down. Oh, I’m sorry, I did use a Bow-Wow pedal, a Schaller, that Jeff Beck uses. I used it on Leslie West Mountain album, on “Blind Man.” The tone I got on there was a Schaller Bow-Wow pedal. Instead of wah-wah, it’s [makes wah sound] bow-wow. [Sings the opening line of Jeff Beck’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” from Truth.]
(LW)あれはジュニアのボリュームでのコントロールだ。俺はあのやり方をマスターしていた、何故って、ペダルを買う金が無かったからな。誰かがMorley(ボリュームペダル)を貸してくれたが、クソっ、あれを踏むと真っ直ぐ立てないんだ! こんな風に(ボリュームペダルに乗っかる振りをして見せながら)。座ってやろうともしてみたが、それでも難しかった。何ができるかっていうと、断ち切ることだ、あのペダルはそんなに余裕を持ってない。ペダルが下がり切らないように何かを挟むってのも手だな。あっ、ゴメン、俺はSchallerのBow-Wowペダルを、Jeff Beckが使ってるやつを、使ったことがあった。俺はそれをLeslie West MountainのBlind Manで使ったんだ。あの音は、SchallerのBow-Wowペダルだ。wah-wahでなくね。そいつは(ワウサウンドを出しながら)バウ-ワウなんだ。(Truthに収録されているJeff BeckのI Ain’t Superstitiousのオープニングラインを歌う)
(GP)What do you use for slide?
(GP)スライドには何を使っていますか?
(LW)A lug wrench.
(LW)ラグ・レンチ(ボックスレンチ)だ。
(GP)Like a Sears Craftsman?
(GP)シアーズのクラフトマンのようなもの?
(LW)A Sears. You can walk into any hardware store in the world and get one. You just have to try it on and get the right size for your finger. Now they make slides. They’re in all the stores. They’re not bad. Jas, you think we’re alright for today?